I know it's been a long time, but the launch trailer for this game did in fact have a Cockatrice in it. No word on if the status ailment comes with it, but it comes out in Japan on Monday so we'll probably find out soon enough!

I'm 75% certain the petrification effect will return. I have been watching this game from my Youtube subscription list of some people who got into the Beta and the game seems to borrow the very same engine from the original game. It also has the potential to be a very good MMORPG just from the smooth animations and solid combat system, also well-translated into MMO form.

While I do wish the freeze effect could function similarly to the petrification effect(albeit a bit faster in it's icy spread to be realistic), the freeze effect in this game so far doesn't seem to have changed, but that is good.

Freezing still has the same effect from the previous game, though this time it lasts much longer, unless you button mash to get out. You can access freezing towards the beginning of the game via Skeleton Mage enemies, who first appear outside the Pawn Cathedral. The cast a spell which creates an obvious blue circle on the ground, giving you ample time to step in an pose. If you manipulate where you trigger the circle to appear, you can get frozen by the spell just outside of their casting range, ensuring they don't keep trying to kill you while you enjoy the view.

If you have any pawn allies with you, they can run up and break you out, and as far as I know there's no way to stop them from doing this. In addition, they are quite good at avoiding the magic circles, so it's hard to get them the ice treatment. HOWEVER, if you open the photo mode, pawns stop moving, so if you time it right you can get them in the radius as well. Unfortunately, they automatically shake off the freeze after only a few seconds.

Petrify is far different from the original game. Instead of the slow transformation, you become immobilized as soon as you are effected by the status. Your character flails around for a few seconds, which is your window to use a curative item to remove the status. After that window expires, you are considered 'dead' - your HP drops to zero, and the screen for revival options comes up. (DD:O is a free-to-play game, so you can pay real money to respawn whenever you die). As you can see from the videos, the revival screen is incredibly intrusive and is a real mood-killer. As far as I know there's no way to hide it.

The nice thing (at least for me) is that the statues DO NOT shatter after a few seconds. If you get a party member petrified, they stay there for a good three minutes or so. Human players will be have the option to revive, or be sent back to the nearest inn after their time is up if they do not. Pawns will obviously not have this option, though your PC can expend revival items to bring them back. As with human players, after a period of time pawns also automatically despawn, but it is several minutes. Sadly, they continue playing their voice clips even while petrified, begging your PC to cure them.

So there's good and bad. Sadly they only monster I've found thus far to inflict petrify is a cockatrice, which is tough enough that you can't just ignore it while you enjoy your sculptures. Waiting for it to be at critical HP before getting your party petrified is an option, allowing you to kill it off before their time limit comes up.

Finally, the game also has a 'Golden' status. This is only inflicted by end-game bosses, as far as I am aware, and I've yet to encounter it. It has the same functionality as the petrify status in terms of game mechanics. I've also got plenty of screenshots of both freezing and petrify (higher res than the videos), which I'd be happy to share if you hit me up on discord.